Wah—
The shrill alarm blared through the Archangel, already on edge.
[All hands, Condition One! All soldiers, report to your first battle stations immediately!]
[I repeat, all soldiers, report to your first battle stations immediately—]
The urgent announcement rang through the ship, and Tolle and the others looked up in surprise.
The other refugees began to stir as well.
Hasty footsteps echoed through the corridors.
The Earth Alliance Army soldiers, who had only just gotten a brief rest, hurried toward their stations.
"Damn it, I'm still on the toilet!"
"Why again? Weren't we supposed to reach Artemis in two hours?"
"ZAFT is really on our tail!"
"..."
The soldiers, who had only just managed to get some rest, now rushed out of the quarters they'd just been assigned, scrambling to pull on their uniforms as they ran.
"Are we going to fight? This ship..."
Watching the soldiers rush around in a panic, Tolle began to feel uneasy.
[Kira Yamato, report to the Strike Gundam and stand by!]
Hearing the announcement, Miriallia leaned toward Tolle and quietly asked, "What do you think Kira will do?"
Sai murmured dazedly, "If he doesn't fight, things are going to get really complicated..."
A flash of displeasure crossed Flay Allster's eyes.
Having to rely on a Coordinator just to stay alive was infuriating.
But when she remembered that it would be Coordinators killing one another, she found that it didn't bother her quite as much.
Seeing Tolle remain silent, Miriallia shook his arm, trying to persuade him. "Tolle, are we really just going to sit here and let Kira protect us all by himself...?"
Even before she said that, Tolle had already been thinking the same thing.
Especially when he looked at Miriallia's face...
"Do what you can, as best you can?"
The words spoken by the young officer, Captain Flaga, kept circling through Tolle's mind.
It was true that Kira was a Coordinator with abilities far beyond his own. Some things really could only be done by him.
But did that mean he had to shoulder everything alone?
Looking at Miriallia, Tolle stood up resolutely. "My strength might not amount to much, but there must be something I can do."
He looked around at his friends and took a deep breath. "I'm going to help. My strength might not amount to much, but what about you?"
"Of course."
"I've been thinking the same thing."
"We can't just let Kira have all the glory."
Perhaps Tolle's words had inspired them. Or perhaps they had already made up their minds.
The group headed together toward the bridge.
On the bridge.
"Large heat source detected! Range 200, bearing Y3317, designation 02C, course zero, relative movement zero!"
"On the side? Moving in the same direction as us?"
Jackie's report sent a chill through everyone on the bridge.
The enemy was on the same course, which meant they had already figured out what the Archangel was trying to do. And since they were only making their move now, they must have prepared thoroughly.
"But at this distance, they're a little far away..."
Natarle Badgiruel muttered with a frown.
The enemy ship was sailing parallel to the Archangel off its port side, but it was still a long way off. They could have stayed hidden and followed them.
"The target is moving at considerable speed. It's about to overtake us on the transverse axis! Ship type confirmed! It's a Nazca-class!"
Communications officer Katz Buskirk kept reporting the enemy vessel's status in real time.
Mu's eyes narrowed. "They've seen right through our plan. They want to get ahead of us and cut us off!"
"What about the Lauraisa-class?"
Natarle Badgiruel asked urgently.
ZAFT's space warships were generally divided into two types:
The high-speed Nazca-class space warship and the Lauraisa-class space frigate.
The Nazca-class high-speed space warship was designed for special operations.
It was a new high-speed combat ship developed by the ZAFT military to make Mobile Suit deployment more effective. Its speed was even slightly greater than that of the Archangel.
Besides its speed, a single Nazca-class ship could carry up to six Mobile Suits, and it was the only warship at the time equipped with a linear catapult.
The linear catapult used two rails extending from inside the ship to electromagnetically accelerate Mobile Suits, increasing their launch speed. This meant the ship didn't need to be fitted with runways for launching and landing Mobile Suits, saving space and allowing the vessel to be made smaller.
It could be said that the Nazca-class was an exceptionally efficient Mobile Suit carrier.
The Lauraisa-class space frigate, on the other hand, had been designed from the outset to fight on its own, even without Mobile Suits.
Thus, Lauraisa-class ships not only had excellent Mobile Suit deployment capabilities but also strong fleet combat capabilities.
Katz Buskirk frantically worked the controls, but the coordinates on the display made him cry out in alarm. "...There's a heat source moving 300 behind us... It's probably a Lauraisa-class!"
They were being pincered by two ships—
A fearful silence filled the bridge.
As battle personnel on the bridge, they knew all too well what it meant to be caught between two warships. It was no exaggeration to say they'd be trapped with nowhere to run.
As the tension mounted, Mu spoke up. "If we keep going like this, the Lauraisa-class will catch up with us sooner or later... But if we fire up the engines and try to escape, the Nazca-class will immediately turn around and come after us—"
Murrue and Natarle were too shocked to speak.
The faint glimmer of hope they'd had moments ago was now completely gone.
"Hey! Send me the specs for those two ships and a map of this sector."
Mu's voice snapped the two female officers out of their daze.
"D-do you have a plan?"
Watching Murrue look so utterly helpless, nothing like a captain, Mu forced down his rising panic and joked, "Of course. We could always raise a white flag and surrender, for example."
After seeing the two women's spirits sink, Mu suddenly grew serious. "But that's the last resort. At least, not until my plan fails, right?"
"You have a plan?"
Captain Murrue looked startled.
"Of course. I'm the Hawk of Endymion, famous for turning the impossible into the possible—"
Mu used his joking tone to steady his own nerves.
Then, as the two women watched in astonishment, he drifted out of his seat and said, "My plan is..."
At the same time.
Prompted by the announcement, Kira slowly made his way toward the hangar.
He had made his decision, but he was still hesitant and uneasy.
Why did it have to be him? He didn't want to fight at all.
It might sound ridiculous, but there were lives inside the Mobile Suits he'd destroyed—
But he didn't want to die.
And he didn't want to kill anyone.
Why did he have to kill his opponent to survive? Why had such an absurd situation come about, and why had it happened to him?
Why did he have to stain his hands with blood just to stay alive?
He wanted to cry out in protest. He wanted to break free of it all.
But there was no room to hesitate, no choice to make.
If he didn't stand and fight, there was a good chance this ship would be sunk, and his friends, the other refugees, and the crew would all die.
Of course, he wouldn't escape death either.
Going out to fight didn't guarantee victory, but if he didn't, their chances of survival would come close to zero.
"Athrun..."
He thought of the name Ino had confirmed for him.
Yet every time he said that name, it felt as if his breathing grew more constricted.
But he had no choice. He could only drag himself toward the hangar. With every step, it felt as if a cord around his neck were tightening, bringing a suffocating pain.
"Kira!"
As he reached a bend in the corridor, Kira suddenly stopped.
His classmates from Kato Squad were coming toward him.
"Tolle? You guys... Why are you dressed like that?"
All his classmates were wearing Earth Alliance Army uniforms.
"Couldn't be helped. They said we had to wear uniforms if we wanted to go to the bridge."
Tolle answered casually.
Sai straightened his collar with a serious expression, then explained to the still-bewildered Kira, "We want to help out with something on the ship. Didn't they say they're short-handed? Besides, we're more familiar with machinery and computers than most people."
"You guys—"
"Honestly, ZAFT uniforms look cooler. We don't even have rank insignia, so we look pretty lame."
Tolle teased them, and Corporal Dalida, walking beside them, immediately scolded him. "Quit being so picky! You should be glad you've got anything to wear!"
When Kira still looked dazed, Tolle grinned at him. "We can't just send you out to fight alone to protect us... We're going to help too."
Miriallia followed with a smile. "Things have gotten this serious, after all. We can do our part too..."
"...You guys..."
His friends' support warmed Kira's heart.
So I wasn't alone after all.
Before you continue